“Laudem Gloriæ”

A life of faith — The teaching of St. Paul — Laudem gloria? — The spirit of praise perfects the virtues — Second portress — The guardian angel — A penitential spirit — Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity in community life.

Sister Elizabeth had regained her former peace, but interior sweetness was not to be her ordinary state. Now that trials had developed her soul, she was to live by faith. If the Divine Master said to her, as to Magdalen, " Touch Me not !"¹ it was because He meant to introduce her into^that hidden school, far removed from the senses, wherein the Word makes! Himself heard ; that obscurity in which it is made evident to the soul that God gives and unites Himself to it. t

It was then that she made acquaintance with the writings of St. Paul, who henceforth became her spiritual guide. Taught by him, she strove to understand "the breadth and length and height and depth " of the Mystery hidden in God before time began ; " the charity of Christ which surpasseth all knowledge," that she might " be filled unto all the fulness of God." |²³

The most beautiful texts of the great Apostle confirmed the characteristic tendencies of her contemplative soul. With the penetration belonging to the pure in heart, she discovered their depth of meaning and assimilated their solid teaching which fortified and nourished her continual prayer. *

One day, when they were discussing the " new name " of which the Apocalypse speaks as being that of the elect, Sister Elizabeth said that she had found hers in St. Paul. The Apostle writes, she continued, that we have been <c predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things according to the counsel of His will. That we may be unto the praise of His glory." f

" I have found my vocation there," she declared. " I am to be c the praise of His glory ' eternally. I wish to be laudem gloria here on earth." \

X This name, by which Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity loved to call herself, because she was inwardly inspired to earn a right to do so, needs some explanation, and even some defence. She discovered it in the writings of St. Paul, who twice says in his Epistle to the Ephesians (Eph. i. 6, 12) that we are predestinated unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ for " the praise of the glory of God " — in laudem gloria ipsius. Our life here below and our glory in heaven may be termed " praise of the Divine glory," or, more briefly, " the praise of glory." And⁴⁵

A few notes drawn up for her sister show how she intended to deserve the title. " How can we fulfil this great dream of the heart of our God, this immutable desire regarding our souls — in a word, how can we respond to our vocation and become a perfect ' praise of the glory ' of the most Blessed Trinity ? In__heaven, every soul is a praise of the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, . because each_soul is grafted unchangeably in pure i ^ love, and lives no longer its own life, but the life of God. Then, as St. Paul says, it knows Him as it is known by Him.

" The c praise of glory ' is a soul that dwells in God, with the pure, disinterested love which does not seek self in the sweetness of His love ; a soul that loves Him above all His gifts, and would have loved Him as much had it received nothing, which wishes well to the object of its tenderness. But how can we wish well to God, except by accomplishing His will, since this will ordains all things for His greater glory ? Such a soul should surrender itself fully, as it is lawful for a name common to many to become proper to a soul which has earned such a title by its special zeal, and, above all, when earned by a sole or supreme preoccupation, Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity appropriated this name belonging to all the elect as her special device, and as expressing most fully what she wished to be. Such an ambition was worthy of one whose heart was wholly given to God. " However, some apology may be required for the young nun who cared little for the niceties of the Latin tongue. In her impulsive fervour she never noticed that she was expressing herself in bad grammar. She took St. Paul's term as it stands, using it like a French noun which is not declined, when laudem can only be used in the accusative. Happy the souls who have only faults of grammar to repent of V* — P£re , S.J.

blindly, to this will so that it cannot possibly wish anything but what God wishes.

u The c praise of glory ' is a silent soul, a lyre beneath the touch of the Holy Spirit from which He can draw divine harmonies. Knowing that suffering is a chord that emits still more exquisite tones, this soul rejoices at giving it forth, that it may impress the heart of its God more pleasingly.

V^c The * praise of glory ' is a soul that contemplates God in faith and in simplicity ; it reflects His whole being, and js a fathomless abyss into which He can flow and outpour Himself ; a crystal through which He can shine and view His own perfections and splendour. A soul which thus permits the Divine Being to satisfy within it His craving, to communicate all He is and has, is truly the ' praise of glory ' of all His gifts.

6i Finally, the c praise of glory,' is one who is always giving thanks, whose acts, movements, thoughts, aspirations, while more deeply establishing her in love, are like an echo of the eternal Sanctus in the heaven of glory. The blessed rest not day or night, saying, c Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. . . and, falling down, adore Him that liveth for ever and ever.'* The c praise of glory' begins now, within the heaven of her soul, the task that will be hers for all eternity. Her chant is uninterrupted ; she acts beneath the influence of the Holy Ghost, although she may sometimes be unconscious of it, for human weakness prevents souls keeping their attention fixed on God without distractions. She sings and adores perpetually, and has, so to speak, gone out from self * Apoc. iv. 8, 10.

and become absorbed in praise and love, in her passion for the glory of her God.

" Let us, in the heaven of our soul, be a homage of glory to the Blessed Trinity. One day the veil will be withdrawn, and we shall be brought into the eternal courts ; there we shall sing in the bosom of infinite Love, and JGod will give us the l new name ' promised to him that overcometh. What will that name be ? — Laudem Gloria r -j

Such was indeed the inner life of this chosen soul, in which faith worked by fervent charity. During prayer and the Divine Office she was evidently absorbed in adoration, and seemed already in Paradise, joining with the blessed spirits in their praise of the thrice-holy God.

Sister Elizabeth's zeal for the psalmody and ceremonies of the Church did not prevent her making rather frequent mistakes, which we attributed to her mind being absorbed in her devotion. It has been related of several of the saints that when their deep contemplation distracted their attention from all outward things, their guardian angels warned them of their part in the ceremonies going on. This favour was not granted to our little sister, but she must have given glory to God by her minute attention |in preparing herself as well as in the sincere humility jshe showed in reparation.

The spirit of praise perfected all her virtues by iuniting her to the Divine Example, Whom she strove to represent in the sight of the Father.

The first utterance of the Word on His entering the world, "Behold, I come to do Thy will, O God,"⁶

ought to be as the very pulse of the bride, and this will of Him Who had sent her should be at once her food and the sword that immolates her. This was the opinion of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, and from this point of view our customs in the most trivial matters were no less dear to her than the Rule itself and her Superior's orders. " I have purchased Thy testimonies for an inheritance for ever: because they are the joy of my heart."⁷ By her constant fidelity to these exterior or interior "ordinances," the bride will bear witness to the Truth, and can say : " He that sent Me is with Me, and He hath not left Me alone: for I do always the things that please Him."')'

She never failed to give this testimony fully. Some instances will give an idea of the perfection of her obedience. She had charge of the noviceship, and was told to close the shutters in the evening. One night she forgot to do so, and suddenly remembered it after Matins, just as she was going to sleep. She rose at once, and went down in the dark across the cloister to perform her task. We find such examples in the lives of the saints, such as that of our Father St. John of the Cross getting up one night because he remembered to have left in his scapular one more pin than a simple tradition allowed, and putting it outside the door of his cell.

For some special reason Sister Elizabeth was dispensed from sitting on the floor during prayer and allowed to use her stall without leaning on it. She always sat in the way that gave her the least possible comfort. Two years later she again received the same dispensation, on account, now, of her illness.

However, she kept strictly to the same practice, so that a sister who watched her never saw her lean on her stall, however slightly, nor did she ever ask for permission to do so. She always obeyed to the letter without putting any personal interpretation on the order, as the following instance shows:

She was told, for a time, to take a short walk every day, but later on she had a painful complaint in her foot, so that she was dispensed from all duties that required her to walk. The Prioress met her one day in the garden, limping along and apparently suffering greatly. " What are you doing here?" the Superior asked. u 1 am taking a walk, Mother, as you told me." We could give many other such instances of the perfect obedience of one who said, a few days before her death : " The will of our Mother has been the law of my life ; when she had spoken, peace filled my soul."

Her humility was just as admirable. "The inability to pray which cost me so much suffering is a blessing to me now," she said. " It seems to magnify God, and His little ' Praise of Glory ' realizes the truth more clearly, and depends more upon Him."

Her humility made it " really sweet to her to feel her powerlessness before God," as a devout author says, from whom she quoted the words that describe herself : " No one can trouble the humble soul, which has cast itself into an abyss too deep for anyone to follow it." In fact, nothing seemed to disturb her ; whatever was said to her, she never excused herself, nor did a shadow cross her face. Yet from childhood she had struggled daily against a sensitiveness which had been the cause of her greatest ioo THE "PRAISE OF GLORY"

victories. " In heaven alone will it be known how I have suffered during my life," she said before she died.

She had written at the end of a retreat made in the world : " I have taken the same resolutions again this year — humility and self-renunciation, which include everything/' Now she reaped the reward of her efforts on a point of which she had recognized, while very young, the primary importance.

" If I were asked the secret of happiness," she wrote, " I should say self-forgetfulness and continual self-denial, which effectually destroy pride. The love of God should be strong enough to destroy all love for self."

Our little sister practised it, and we used to admire the way in which she continually effaced self that others might come forward, although she would often have been justified in taking the lead.

Her patience, the fruit of her humility, was inexhaustible, and never seen to fail. Yet how often it was tried, particularly in her office of help at the turn. Always at the beck and call of the first portress, she was especially anxious to smooth away the difficulties resulting for the out-sisters from our strict enclosure. They frequently had recourse to her ungrudging kindness. One day one of them asked to be forgiven for disturbing her so often. " Oh, don't say anything about it !" answered Sister Elizabeth. " I am so glad to be able to help you. I want you to forget that you cannot come in and fetch what you require."

She was as good-natured and obliging even during the most acute sufferings of her last days, so that we were always glad to apply to her in our needs. Her smile never vanished, although she was sometimes obliged to interrupt her work when very busy, to give up an hour's extra prayer, or change her little plans. She never seemed to mind so long as her self-denial was sanctioned by obedience.

Naturally of a very loving disposition, Sister Elizabeth's affections for those in the convent, as well as for her own family, were influenced by supernatural motives. The same charity that made her help her sisters in her own charming way led her to pay special attention to those who would probably humiliate her or try her virtue, so that all shared in her kindness.

She was twice given the office of angel.⁸ A young girl who passed some months in Carmel writes to her former Prioress : " I remember my entrance into the convent ; my little angel was there, and I guessed at once that she was an angel of charity. How she enjoyed giving some sort of a religious character to my worldly dress ! How well she knew how to come to my help, to rectify my mistakes ! How sweetly, how humbly, simply, and delicately she found an excuse for my faults ! She saw to everything and kept constant watch over her Tobias.

" When she showed me how to keep the noviceship in order, she said : c You must prize all this sweeping and dusting, for you begin your life as a Carmelite in this room.' Her reverence, inspired by her spirit of faith, as she told me how to do my work, proved that she lived in the presence of God, and looked to Him in her most trivial actions.

"Sometimes I apologized for having made her leave the silence she loved so well, but looking at me affectionately, she answered : (lam your angel ; come to me at once without hesitation ; it is my duty to look after you and help you/

" How joyful she used to be when she could say : c Our Mother will see you to-day/ If her own turn was put off for mine, she said : c Your pleasure makes me so happy that I am quite willing to sacrifice my own. You are going to see our Mother : profit by it, for it is sacramental/

"On several occasions, when she found me in tears, she took me in her arms affectionately, and must have gone to tell you, Mother, for you always sent for me on those days to set me right and comfort me. I was struck by her goodness, which always edified me— indeed, I had only to imitate her ^ to advance in the love and intimacy of the Divine Master."

Needless to say, such a soul was irresistibly impelled to perform penance, absorbed as it was in the thought of the " exceeding love " of God. As we used to tell her when she was on the point of doing something very imprudent, not only had she no instinct of self-preservation, but she felt such selfcontempt that she had to be restrained on that score. Elizabeth was unable to practise such severe macerations as she wished, but her keen insight made her the better appreciate the constant sacrifice demanded by the Carmelite Rule, as well as the trials sent her by Providence, so that she realized the saying of St. Paul in its appeal to her faith : " I die daily."* It was impossible to guess what she liked or dis- * i Cor. xv. 31.

liked. Dead to self, she bore her weariness, and especially her headaches, with no outward sign. She preferred an extra hour for prayer to the rest that was offered her on their account, saying that was the only time when she felt no pain. She was delighted at honouring the Crown of Thorns, not by her own choice but by the will of her Divine Master.

Sister Elizabeth had often expressed the wish of spending herself in silence. Her apparent good health furthered her desire, and we never dreamt of our mistake until she entered the infirmary, never to leave it. From what she there disclosed, we learnt something of the heroism she had practised.

How bravely she kept to her work, realizing that it was part of our penance, and performing it in that spirit, rather than from natural inclination, for although very skilful with the needle, she found some difficulty in combining her very high form of prayer with the industry prompted by her zeal. She said that wonders, real little miracles, had occurred on this score when, watching against over-eagerness, she found her work advance in proportion with the intensity of her union with God.

With her spirit of order and poverty, Sister Elizabeth rendered invaluable service in the vestiary.⁹ She had a wonderful gift of combining the requirements of an office, which was often overwhelmed with work, with the higher call that kept her calm and recollected in the little heaven of her soul.

A sister once spoke to her of her difficulty in getting rid of wandering thoughts during prayer. I To avoid that," answered Sister Elizabeth, " we io4 THE "PRAISE OF GLORY"

must be very watchful during the day. On two or three occasions, when I saw the first vestier very overworked, I hurried over my task and became excited about it, but God does not wish that of His brides. When I went to Him, try as I might, I could not rise above my frippery " This is a proof of the care she took to keep herself entirely for God.

The opinions of some of the community complete the description of the angelic little nun.

" Our dear little sister excelled in all the virtues. Although so contemplative that one would have expected her to be incapable of activity, her zeal was unwearied. She was noticeable for her perfect calmness, the result of her remarkable energy, for it seemed as if her soul were so perfectly possessed by the c God of peace ' that she had no need of further struggle. And how she shed forth this peace around her!

" Although naturally grave, serious, and fond of silence, Sister Elizabeth was always sociable in our little family festivities. She was particularly fond of St. Martha's day.¹⁰ We used to arrange our plans beforehand, but she had a charming way of letting others enjoy the success of them. She was especially careful that our recollection should not be disturbed, so we used to imagine we were at Bethany, serving our Lord. She used to think she could invent no treat good enough for the sisters, and was delighted when she pleased them."

During the recreation daysf the seniors liked to f Days on which the sisters are allowed to visit one another in their cells for conversation.

talk with Elizabeth of the Trinity, for she understood the Carmelite vocation in the sense of former times. "I was always delighted with her humility," says one of them. "Though her prayer was very high, and she was far advanced in the spiritual life, she was ever ready to learn, and acted as though she knew nothing. Although Divinely instructed in the way of prayer, I used to see her listen with interest, and apply to herself whatever was said, never letting anyone suspect that she was far better informed."

One of her companions in the novitiate says : " Our recreations were delightful ! How many times she spoke to me of the consuming Fire and the simple gaze, whose secrets she knew so well. I do not remember her ever being less amiable, sweet, and unselfish for a single day.

" Even while she was sweeping the floor, although most active over her task, I used to be struck with admiration at her serious, recollected expression. She seemed never distracted from her incessant praise."

Let us end by quoting the opinion of one of the senior nuns, who cannot be suspected of enthusiasm, and whose rigorous observance of the Rule gives weight to her judgment :

" Having heard that no one had ever been able to discover any imperfection in Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, I wished to make sure of the fact, as I was by no means predisposed in her favour. To my mind the polished manners of the world and a great facility of expression, joined to a keen intelligence and loving nature, might combine to give the impression of a perfection of virtue which had not yet been tested. Although we saw much of one another, when anyone talked to me about her virtues I spoke with reservation, and would not admit that they were so perfect or so unvarying ; indeed, the Mother Sub-Prioress asked me one day whether I disliked Sister Elizabeth. * No,' I replied, ' I like her very much ; but I shall wait before giving my opinion.' 'Well,' she answered, 'I can only say that I have frequently humiliated her, and have always found her sweet and humble.'

"From that time I studied her still more attentively, and was forced to own that I had never discovered any imperfection in her. Some people may have thought this a rather strong expression to use in the * death notice,' but it is the simple truth.

" Hers was not a perfection of the narrow and provoking kind, but was so humble and hidden as not to exclude certain faults of weakness or inadvertence, although I never saw her give way to any natural impulse ; she always appeared to me not only faithful, but, I may say, heroic, especially undei some particularly trying circumstances.

"My cell was next to hers, and I used to hear her get up every morning directly the first signal sounded. When she reached the choir, or oratory, she at once knelt down, however tired her knees might be, or later on, whatever she might be suffering. One year we made a challenge of silence. She kept it most strictly ; the two or three failures she had to note down every week were always caused by her kind-heartedness."

Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity's relations with those in the world bore no less evidence of her inner life. Her angelic disposition, zealous above all things for the glory of God, was combined with a tact, simplicity, and supernatural affection which won the confidence of everyone. She appreciated our severe laws regarding the parlour, and knew how to curtail an interview when she found it difficult to keep the conversation within the bounds she had set herself. If, however, she was in sympathy with her caller, she opened her heart, and her visitors listened spellbound. " It was impossible to come near her without being impressed and penetrated with the presence of God," says a friend. " One could never tire of hearing her speak of the most sublime subjects."

" Our rare interviews did me the greatest good," says another ; " they always led me to love our Lord better and to sacrifice and recollect myself more. Grace seemed to pass from her through the grille which separated us."

One day a relation, who came from a long distance to visit her, was so impressed that she exclaimed impulsively : " Elizabeth, I place myself and my children under your protection." She wept at parting, and always begged Elizabeth to pray for her whenever any important matter was concerned.

u I talked with the dear young nun on February 27, 1905," writes a friend of Madame Catez. "I had not seen her since she entered Carmel, and I found she had become perfect. She was absorbed in the love of God, yet said such tender things to me, and spoke of her Mother with such outbursts of affection, that I cried then, as I do now, when I recall the very short time I passed with her."

Such was Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity in the years following her profession ; such were the fruits of the long and deep silence in which she listened to the divine word, that " efficacious " word which io8 THE "PRAISE OF GLORY"

worked for the "praise of divine glory," the blessed! transformation described by her in the following lines :

" Oh ! would that I could say, as did St. Paul, That I for love of Him had lost my all. For no desire have I of aught below, Save that my love each day may deeper grow ! To strive to know Him better be my goal — My Christ, and the Redeemer of my soul ! May I so fashioned to His likeness be, That men in me my Saviour's image see !"

Footnotes

1. St. John xx. 17. ↩

2. St. Augustine, " Des Etats d'oraison de Bossuet," chap. xxiv. ↩

3. Eph. iii. 18, 19. ↩

4. Hitherto her daily readings in the New Testament had brought her comparatively little light. . . . She made it less from inclination than from obedience ; but now the sense of the Holy Scriptures was really given her, as can be seen in the lucid explanations, particularly on St. Paul, with which her letters teem. Her correspondence, visits to the parlour, poems, confidential chats, are henceforth full of the words of St. Paul, whilst her own delightful comments on them were the joy and stimulus of her companions in the noviceship, ↩

5. Eph. i. 12. ↩

6. Heb. x. 9. ↩

7. Ps. cxviii. III. t St. John viii. 29. ↩

8. This is the name given to the sister who is charged with teaching a postulant the customs of the community — of which she acquitted herself with tact and discretion. ↩

9. The room used for work by Carmelite nuns. Those who make the clothes of the community are termed " vestiers." ↩

10. On that day the novices take the place in the kitchen of our lay-sisters, to whom we give a holiday. ↩